The name Shou Lung translates to "Receiver of the Dragon".[note 3] The Shou people believed that the Celestial One sent the Nine Great Dragons, or Nine Immortals, into the lands of men. These Nine Great Dragons were believed to hold up the world and move all things by their thoughts.[4]

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Lying between Kara-Tur and Faerûn was the Dragonwall, a great wall of stone. According to legend, a wu jen was tasked by the emperor with finding a way to keep the Tuigan hordes from raiding Shou Lung's northern provinces. The wu jen stole the Jade Mirror from the sea dragonPao Hu Jen, whose body was thousands of kilometers long. The wu jen led the dragon on a chase across the border, and at a certain point stopped and held up the Jade Mirror to the dragon's eyes, which instantly turned him to stone. After his petrified body fell to the ground, the emperor had his engineers carve fortifications into it so that it could serve them as a defensive wall.[10]

The official head of the government was the Emperor, but he was aided in his duties by the Chancellor, who executed the Emperor's decrees, oversaw the bureaucracy, and determined what information was worthy of reaching the emperor's ears. A wu jen was the emperor's official court wizard, who advised the Emperor with divinations and dealt with magical threats.[6] Around 1357 DR, the emperor was Kai Tsao Shou Chin.[11][note 4]

The government was composed of seven ministries: State, War, Magic, Faith, Sea, Agriculture, and Public Works (though there were occasions where the Department of State Security was referred to as the Ministry of State security[12]). It was a meritocratic system; every year the Civil Service Examination held examinations to test candidates for government jobs.[13]

The Forbidden City was a walled compound that contained the Imperial Palace and the halls of government. Only governmental staff were allowed inside during the day, and during the night only the royal family and their domestic staff could remain; trespassers were punished by death.[13]

The nobility of Shou Lung were much weaker than those of most Faerûnian nations. They had less power than government ministers, and their private armies were kept small by law. They constantly schemed to wrest more power from the priesthood and bureaucrats.[14]